Today, voters in the St. Paul school district rejected a nearly $18 million bond issue that would have funded facility improvements at St. Paul Public Schools.

On Tuesday, just before 6:00 p.m., Howard County Election Commissioner Brenda Klanecky reported that, unofficially, 784 patrons of the district voted against the bond issue, while 602 voted in favor of it.

Of the 2,574 ballots that were mailed out to registered voters in February as a part of the special election, 1,389 ballots were returned and counted. Klanecky reported that two ballots were returned blank.

Voter participating in the special election was just under fifty-four percent.

“I think we had a pretty good turnout,” Klanecky said during an interview on Tuesday night. The election commissioner noted that her canvassing board would meet later this week to finalize the results of the election.

Voters in the Palmer school district also rejected a school bond during a special election held in that district that ended on Tuesday. The Palmer school district had proposed a nearly $14 million project that would have funded facility improvements, including the addition of a new gymnasium.

Merrick County Election Commissioner Trish Fate-Strobel reported on Tuesday that 269 patrons voted against the bond and 236 voted in favor of it. In total 505 ballots were cast in the special election.

The election commissioner said that voter participation in Merrick County was at seventy-four percent. Ninety-four percent of voters in the school district that reside in Nance County participated in the election, and seventy percent of district patrons that reside in Howard County cast ballots.

“I am very impressed with the turnout,” Fate-Strobel said. “It was great.”